Towel dispenser



Jan. 22, 1935. HAYVLEY 1,988,732

TOWEL DISPENSER Filed June 20, 1935 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 A TTORN S.

Jan. 22, 1935.

R. D. HAWLEY 1,988,732

TOWEL DI SPENSER Filed June 20, 1933 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 .5. 21 29 15 iH-I A II 6% '5 .mn MEE A away A TTORNE S.

Jan. 22, 1935. R. D. HAWLEY 1,988,732

TOWEL DISPENSER Filed June 20, 1933 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR.

A TTORN S.

Patented Jan. 22 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1,988,732 TOWEL DISPENSER Roy D. Hawley, Oakland, Calif. Applicatimruneeo, 19.33, Serial No. 676,702

solar-ms. (01. 3212-37) This invention relates to .a towel dispensing machine adapted to receive a pack of. towels, and more particularly to the manner of arranging the towels in the vpackand to mechanism for removing the towels from the pack .one by .one

as they are required.

The object of the present invention is to generally improve :and simplify the construction and operation of towel dispensing machines; to provide .a machine .of the character described which is adapted to receive a plurality of towels assembled in packed formation and laterally offset with relation to each other in the pack so that the uppermost towel may be released for removal while the underlying towels will be secured; and further, to provide manually actuated means operable from the exterior of the machine for releasing and dispensing the towels one by one as required.

The towel dispensing machine is shown by way of illustration in the accompanying drawings, in which- Fig. 1 is acentral vertical cross section taken on line I-.I of Fig. 3.

Fig. 2 is a vertical cross section taken on line 11-11 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 3 is a plan section taken on line III-III of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a .plan view showing one method of laterally arranging the towels.

Fig. 5 is a plan View showing another method of laterally arranging the towels.

Fig. :5a is a sectional View of the one-way clutch.

Fig. 6 is a cross section taken on line 'VI-'VI of Fig. 4.

Fig. 17 is a front view of the towel-cabinet in which the towels andmechanism actuating 'thesame is enclosed.

Referring .to the drawings in detail, and par ticularly Figs. '1 and 3, A indicates the back of a cabinet, 7 the end sections thereof, and 8 :a front .or cover section hingedly secured at the bottom of the-cabinet at the point indicated at '9; The :front or .cover section has an opening :10 formed therein-through which the hand :may be inserted to remove the towels.

The towelsraressecured. in a clamping member, see Figs. 1, 4 and :5, and .this. clamping 50 member is secured in bearing bosses I2 and '13 .carried by the end walls of the cabinet. "The towels secured the clamping member areLila-tierally staggered .ornfiset with relationoo each Lother,-=as shown :in Fig. 4. That is,..the :uppermost towel is placed-:on an: angle with? relation to the clamp 11, as shown at 14, the towel :below the same is placed on an opposite angle with relation .to the clamp .11 .and is shown at 15, and the next towel below that will assume the position of that indicated at 14 and the next 5 below that would assume the same position as that indicatedgat 15. The towels may also be secured in the clamp, as shown in Fig; :5, by :putting the .uppermost towel in the position shown at 17., the next towel in the position 10 shown at 1-8, and so on. A lateral vofiset'arrangement is obtained in thismanner, this be- :ing clearly shown by the cross section, see Fig. 6. This lateral staggering or offsetting of the towels is important ,as will hereinafter appear. 15

c When the clamping member 11 is inserted in the cabinet, all of the towels are thrown upwardly .over a cylindrical-shaped supporting bar .19 which extends between the end walls of the housing, the towels being supported by this bar 20 :and .a shelf member 19a.

The mechanism for removing the towels one by one will now .be described. Pivotally secured, as at 20, .on the'iback wall of the housing is .a fork-shaped arm 21, see-Figs. 1 and .3, in the 25 outer end of which is journalled a roller 22. This roller has a raised surface covered with friction material, such as sandpaper, corrugated rubber, or the like, and a groove 23a is formed centrally of the friction surface and functions 30 in a manner hereinafter to be described. The .entire weightof the roller and the outerend of the fork-shaped arm is supported by the towels :placed on the :shelf and the bar 19. The weight rthus applied and the frictional engagement be- :35 :tween' the roller 23 and the towels :is utilized for. releasing and removing the towels one by one. To insure such release and removal apartial rotary movement must be transmitted to the roller 23 in the direction of "arrow 17. so as to L ir'ictionally engage the uppermost towel and pushit outwardly in the opening 10 so as to assume thedottedline position shown at 24, where the towelmay be grasped andlpulled out for use, and after being used, it may be dropped and when dropped will assume the position shown at 24a.

Partial rotation is imparted to the roller 23 by means of a hand lever 25, .see Figs. 2 and 3. This lever is pivoted to one of the end walls of :the cabinet at 26 and the inner end is pivotally secured .to azrack bar 27. The rack bar engages a gear 28 secured on theshaft '29, see Fig; .3. On the inner end of this shaft is secured .a sprocket gear 30 over which passes a chain .31. This .5

chain also passes over sprocket gear 32 secured on a shaft supporting the rollers 22 and 23, this shaft being journaled in the outer ends of the fork-shaped arm 21. When the outer end of the lever 25, which projects through a slot in the front of the cabinet, is grasped and depressed. in the direction of arrow I), see Fig. 2, the rack bar 27 moves upwardly and rotates gear 28 and shaft 29, together with a sprocket gear 32. This in turn transmits motion through a one way clutch 33 to rotate the shaft upon which the rollers 22 and 23 are secured. The amount of rotation may be one-half revolution or less, depending upon the distance it is desired to project the towel. The one-way clutch is of standard make. It consists of a cylindrical outer housing 33 which is freely rotatable on the shaft which carries rollers 22 and 23. The sprocket 32 is also freely rotatable on said shaft but is connected to the clutch housing so as to rotate the same. Inside of the housing is a cam disc 33a which is secured to the shaft. Rollers 331) are interposed between the cam disc and the housing, hence when the housing is rotated in one direction the rollers are forced outwardly and form a driving connection to drive the shaft carrying rollers 22 and 23, and when the housing is rotated in the opposite direction by the sprocket, the rollers 33b recede and rollers 22 and 23 remain stationary. Duringthe partial rotation of roller 23 the uppermost towel is frictionally engaged and is forced outwardly through the opening finally assuming the dotted line position shown at 24, where it may be grasped and pulled out of the cabinet for use. When lever is released it is returned to normal position by spring 35 and the one-way clutch 33 will rotate freely in a reverse direction without imparting motion to the roller 23. Due to the fact that the roller 23 is journaled in the outer end of the fork 21 and the fork is pivoted at the back of the cabinet, roller 23 will always exert a predetermined amount of downward pressure on the uppermost towel and hence a uniform frictional engagement until the last towel is used; that is, it will swing downwardly by gravitational action as the towels are removed and as such functions with equal certainty whether the stack of towels is high or is being depleted.

The lateral staggered arrangement of the towels, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, is important. By referring to Fig. 3 it will be noted that two weighted arms 42 and 43 are provided. These arms are pivoted at their inner ends to the back of the cabinet. The outer ends of the arms rest by gravity on the stack of towels supported by the cross bar 19 and the shelf, and due to the staggered arrangement of the towels the weight 42 will engage the uppermost towel while the arm 43 will engage the towel below the same and'when the uppermost towel is removed arm 43 will engage the uppermost towel while arm 42 will engage the towel below the same. Hence, one arm or the other is always in engagement with the uppermost towel and the other arm is engaging the towel below the same. This is important as it leaves one side or corner of each towel free to be projected by the friction roller 23 when this is rotated, and at the same time one'of the arms will secure the underlying towel against removal while the other arm will secure the opposite corner of the towel until it is grasped and manually pulled outwardlythrough the opening 10.

In actual practice it has been found that when a towel is being projected from the cabinet during rotation of the roller 23, that there is a tendency for the towel to adhere to the friction surface of the roller and to follow up, wardly with the same. To avoid such movement of the towels when they are projected, groove 23a. is formed in the roller 22 between the friction surfaces 23. An arm 45, secured at its rear end to the forked arm 21, extends forwardly through the groove and projects a slight distance forwardly of the roller. This arm prevents the towel from adhering to the surface of the roller when it is being rotated as it peels or strips the towel from the surface of the roller as it is rotating, hence preventing adherence to the same.

In actual practice a stack of towels when inserted may represent fifty or more towels and a fairly high stack is thus formed on top of the shelf and the cross bar 19. When a new stack of towels is inserted, the upper end of the opening 10 must be at an elevation where the uppermost towel when projected to assume the position shown at 24 may be readily grasped and pulled outwardly for use. It, however, happens that when the stack decreases in height when the towels are being used that the roller 23 and the mechanism actuating the same drops down to a point where it may be seen through the upper 9 portion of the opening 10. This is not desirable and a shield or cover member 46 is accordingly provided. This is supported at its lower edge by the arms and at the upper end by one or more arms, such as indicated at 4'7. A spring latch is placed on the rear wall of the cabinet and this engages a cross-arm 21a on arm 21 to retain the arm 21v and the mechanism supported thereby in a vertical position, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1, when the cover member is open and a stack of towels is being inserted or removed.

To replace or remove towels it is only necessary to open the cover 8 and swing it downardly about its hinges 9. The cover may obviously be secured in closed position by a key actuated look so as to prevent opening by unauthorized persons but as such mechanism is common it is not illustrated. After the cover has been opened, arm 21 is first raised to vertical position and there secured by the latch, clamp 11 is then removed from between the bearing bosses supporting the same, and a new stack of towels may be inserted and thrown upwardly over the bar 19 and the shelf cooper- 4 ating therewith. The latch is then released and arm 21, together with its mechanism, dropped downwardly into engagement with the uppermost towel, after which it is only necessary to close the cover and lock the same. Thereafter the towels may be removed one by one by merely depressing the projecting end of the lever 25, as each time the lever is depressed an uppermost towel will be projected outwardly through the opening 10 a suflicient distance to permit it to be readily grasped and pulled free of the roller.

While certain features of the present invention are more or less specifically described, I wish it understood that various changes may be resorted to within the scope of the appended claims. Similarly, that the materials and finish of the several parts employed may be such as the manufacturer may decide, or varying conditions or uses may-demand.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is- 1. A towel dispensing machine comprising a cabinet adapted to receive a pack of towels, said towels being secured at one end and the opposite end of each towel being free for removal from the cabinet, a frame pivoted at its inner end within the cabinet, a roller journaled in the outer end of said frame and resting by gravity on the uppermost towel in the stack, said roller presenting a frictional surface, means for imparting a rotational movement to the roller whereby engagement between the frictional surface and the uppermost towel will cause projection of a portion of the towel outwardly through an opening in the cabinet where the projected portion may be grasped and the free end of the towel pulled out through the opening, and means engageable with the underlying towel to retain and secure the same while the uppermost towel is being removed.

2. A towel dispensing machine comprising a cabinet adapted to receive a pack of towels, said towels being secured at one end and the opposite end of each towel being free for removal from the cabinet, the free ends of the towel being laterally offset with relation to each other so that a portion of the towel underlying the uppermost towel will be exposed, manually,

actuated means operable from the exterior of the cabinet for projecting a portion of the uppermost towel outwardly through an opening formed in the cabinet at a point Where the projected portion may be grasped and the free end of the towel pulled out through the opening, and means for engaging the exposed portion of the underlying towel and securing said underlying towel against removal while the uppermost towel is being removed.

3. A towel dispensing machine comprising a cabinet adapted to receive a pack of towels, said towels being secured at one end and the opposite end of each towel being free for removal from the cabinet, the free ends of the towel being laterally offset with relation to each other so that a portion of the towel underlying the uppermost towel will be exposed, a roller presenting a friction surface engageable with the uppermost towel in the stack, means for imparting a rotary motion to said roller whereby engagement between the friction surface and the towel will cause projection of a portion of the towel through an opening formed in the cabinet to a position where the projected portion of the towel may be grasped and the free end of the towel pulled out through the opening, and means for engaging the exposed portion of the underlying towel and securing said underlying towel against removal while the uppermost towel is being removed.

4. A towel dispensing machine comprising a cabinet adapted to receive a pack of towels, said towels being secured at one end and the opposite end of each towel being free for removal from the cabinet, the free ends of the towels being laterally offset with relation to each other so that a portion of the towel underlying the uppermost'towel will be exposed, a roller presenting a frictional surface engageable with the uppermost towel in the stack, means for imparting a rotary motion to said roller whereby engagement between the friction surface and the towel will cause projection of a portion of the towel through an opening formed in the cabinet to a position where the projected portion of the towel may be grasped and the free end of the towel pulled out through the opening, means for engaging the exposed portion of the underlying towel and securing said underlying towel against removal while the uppermost towel is being removed, and a stripping arm secured within the housing adjacent the friction roller to prevent towels from winding about the friction roller.

5. A towel dispensing machine comprising a cabinet adapted to receive a pack of towels, said towels being secured at one end and the opposite end of each towel being free for removal from the cabinet, the free ends of the towel being lat-- erally offset with relation to each other so that a portion of the towel underlying the uppermost towel will be exposed, a roller presenting a friction surface engageable with the uppermost towel in the stack, means for imparting a rotary motion to said roller whereby engagement between the friction" surface and the towel will cause projection of a portion of the towel through an opening formed in the cabinet to a position where the projected portion of the towel may be grasped and the free end of the towel pulled out through the opening, and an arm pivotally mounted in the cabinet, said arm being weighted and its free end adapted to engage the exposed portion of the underlying towel and securing said underlying towel against removal while the uppermost towel is being removed.

ROY D. HAWLEY. 

